This invention relates to hand looms. More particularly, it relates to a hand loom having an improved and simplified construction which is adapted to be mounted on a table, stand bench, and the like for operation.
Hand looms are well known and have been used for many years. Such looms generally consist of a frame, a warp beam at the rear of the frame for holding the warp threads, a cloth beam at the front of the frame upon which the finished fabric is wound, a central harness frame or castle in which a plurality of harnesses are mounted for vertical sliding movement and a beater assembly for forcing laterally extending weft threads tightly against the previously woven portions of the material. Each harness carries a plurality of vertically aligned heddles, each of which has a central eye through which a selected warp thread passes so that the latter can be raised and lowered by the vertically moveable harnesses. The harnesses normally rest in their lower position. During the weaving operation one or more of the harnesses are raised so that the predetermined number of warp threads carried by the raised harnesses are elevated above the remaining warp threads to form an angular, wedge shaped shed between the raised warp threads and the warp threads at rest. A shuttle containing the weft thread is passed through the shed in front of the reed mounted in the beater. The beater is then manually moved forwardly toward the front breast beam to press the weft threads in place. Thus, the actual weaving area is the portion of the loom between the beater and the front breast beam. Accordingly, it is important that the shed formed by raising selected harnesses be of sufficient height in front of the beater to readily permit the shuttle to be passed through the shed.
Prior to the present invention, the beater in hand looms has commonly been pivotally mounted on the frame, usually at the base of the frame, at a point intermediate the castle and the front breast beam. When mounted in this manner, the beater moves in an arc as the operator swings the beater forward against the weft threads during weaving. However, as the beater moves through such an arc, the lower rail of the beater is forced against the warp threads, exerting such an undesirable stress and tension on these threads that the warp threads and woven fabric may be adversely affected. Moreover, when mounted in this manner, the upper portion of the beater rests against the castle so that the reed carried by the beater is spaced some distance, generally 2 inches or more, away from the front harness. Since the height of the shed is greatest at the front harness and tapers downwardly to the point of weaving, it is apparent that such a conventional mounting of the beater does not permit the shuttle to be passed through the shed at the widest opening of the shed. With such a pivotally mounted beater assembly, the operator commonly must pass the shuttle through the shed at a point where the height of the shed is only about one-half inch, making it extremely difficult to pass the shuttle through the shed without hitting and breaking warp threads.
Also in conventional hand looms, the harnesses are commonly raised by a series of cords and pulleys connected to a series of levers which are actuated by the operator, such as by depressing selected treadles mounted in the lower front portion of the loom. However, such prior construction of the harness actuating mechanism is subject to a number of disadvantages. For example, the prior mechanisms for raising selected harnesses during the weaving operation are frequently somewhat cumbersome in use and often result in distortion, canting and uneveness in the lifting of the harnesses and may result in binding of the harnesses. Moreover, in some it necessary to disconnect and/or disassemble the lifting mechanism if a harness is to be removed for any reason, such as heddle changes. Also the mechanism for raising the harnesses in some prior looms requires a force which is frequently so excessive as to unduly fatique the operator.